How Much Does God Know?

Does anything surprise God? Are there things that even He doesn't know?

These are some of the questions raised in a book published some years back, which came up in a discussion this week. I have never read the book, but the one telling me about it summarized the thesis as something like this: If God has allowed humans free will, then there must be a time when He does not know what we will do. If you create something that can think for itself, how can you know what it will think or do?

I strongly believe you cannot hold the Bible as the inerrant Word of God and also consider this to be true. Why? Because the Bible consistently contradicts this view.

Over and over, the writers of Scripture declare that God knows their thoughts...

Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O Yahweh. ~Psalm 139:4

You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men ~1Kings 8:39c

Yahweh knows the thoughts of man; He knows that they are futile. ~Psalm 94:11

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. ~Psalm 139:2

Then the Spirit of the Yahweh came upon me, and he told me to say: "This is what the Yahweh says: That is what you are saying, O house of Israel, but I know what is going through your mind." ~Ezekiel 11:5

If He did not know all the details of a person's heart, actions, thoughts, and will, He certainly could never determine how long they would live. Yet the Psalmist states that God knew the exact day of his death before he was even born.

All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. ~Psalm 139:16b

Not only does He know the day of our death, but at creation He already had written in His book of life all who would be saved.

The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. ~Revelation 17:8

Yahweh determined exactly what it would take and how long for Nebuchadnezzar to humble himself before Him.

Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes. ~Daniel 4:25

Similarly, He planned Pharaoh's part in the Israelite's exodus from Egypt, long before he was born.

It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ~Romans 9:16-17

He knew which of Jesse's sons would not only serve as king, but be the man of God that He desired.

"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Yahweh looks at the heart." ~1 Samuel 16:7c

Even Jesus, God and perfect man, though limited in His human capacity to know the times set by His Father for His return, knew what those around Him were thinking, what the state of their hearts were, and exactly what they would do to Him.

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? ~Matthew 9:4

"Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?"  ~John 7:19

I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill Me, because you have no room for My word. ~John 8:37  

The author (of the book mentioned at the start) could argue that many of these are just Yahweh examining people's thoughts and actions as they happened. But there is hardly a book in the Old Testament where Yahweh does not predict how a person or a nation will act. 

As early as Genesis 3, God foretold of the actions of mankind and their need for a Messiah. In chapter 15, He told Abraham about the slavery that his children would be under for four hundred years.  

This does not even scratch the surface of His messages through the prophets. For example, His prediction that a specific ruler, Cyrus, would be the one to free His people from foreign lands and allow them to return home. 

If you believe the older dating of Isaiah, this was written over two hundred years before Cyrus' birth. Even if you date the latter part of Isaiah during the lifetime of Cyrus, He still was describing Cyrus actions to people who would never have looked to him for salvation. 

Yet Yahweh is the One—

Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure' ~Isaiah 46:10

The purposes of Yahweh will not be thwarted. He knew before creation all that would take place.

I'm so thankful for a King and Father who cannot be taken by surprise by our lives or by the world.